Thank you for giving us even more reasons for wiping the Taliban off the face of the earth. The crimes against humanity I can deal with, but not even knowing Playstation or Xbox? Those are savages worth a bullet.

Me55enger:Amusing how the Taliban and the Stop the War Coalition effectively say the same thing but with localised dialogue. Just an observation.

I do think that the Stop the War Coalition had more trouble with Harry's boasts of having killed taliban warriors, pointing out that more often than not innocent bystanders do get killed from western air-attacks. And wars being messy and unclear at times, Harry really had no real way of actually knowing the tiny figures down below he took out were Taliban fighters or regular Afghani civvies in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I just...I can't even figure out how to respond to this. On the one hand, I want to slam that Taliban person against a wall and scream at him about all the things his kind has done to everyone. On the other hand, I can't help but just stand there and say, "Wait, what?" And another part of me can't believe this is real and is still expecting it to be a joke. I'm so confused...

"It is a game. I just have better skills and more quarters than you," is probably how I'd respond to this man--and get in a whole heap of trouble for it.

I would think playing video games would make him a better gunner. Hand-eye coordination and whatnot, just like with surgeons.

Using games is a pretty common thing getting people used to controls like that, and I think that's all Harry meant. He didn't say, "War iz liek playin garmes!111!" for goodness sake. We'll just wait for Fox to chime in any second now, because they only hear what they want to as well.

And I couldn't care less what you think, Taliban. You are the real cowards here.

Rogue 09:Thank you for giving us even more reasons for wiping the Taliban off the face of the earth. The crimes against humanity I can deal with, but not even knowing Playstation or Xbox? Those are savages worth a bullet.

I think the point to make out here, that is, the point the Taliban have jumped on, is;

Harry is a prince, in the classical sense he is a divine being, at the least he is highly regarded and loved by the default of the country he represents.

They are basically holding him to a higher moral standard, they have then jumped to their own implications of his statement and defy you to not do the same. These implications being that he compares the making of war to the playing of a video game. Essentially for fun, they say, as a prince he should know better.

Of course, like many of you here, I cannot find the position where Harry has admitted he likes to kill things, at least in a way comparable to the act of making war and not the act of playing a video game. (although those things are not being well seperated these days, refering to a recent Jimquisition, enjoying the simulation of violence a videogame presents is not even comparable, to even the concept, of the real thing.)

This still leaves Harry in a fairly difficult position, it's like comparing Hitler to an average person with genocidal tendencies that will likely never materialise.

It may be inferred that Harry himself, may, or may not, be capable of understanding the difference. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, prince or not, seems reasonable, without trying to make it personal and then discussing his own history in a impersonal manner.

He has merely stated a fondness for the way playing a game such as Call of Duty is comparable to his real-life experiences as co-pilot gunner, even helping him further understand his job, which he may be called upon to do everyday he spends in the field.

And FIFA. For that alone I'd want to drop the proverbial hammer. But that's just me.

They murder and mutilate innocent people because they can't bear the thought of people being treated as equals and having the free will to follow their own ideals. The mere idea that they think they have any right to call the moral high ground at this point is quite laughable! It's pathetic.

I agree that his statement was a bit tactless, but only for ill-wording. War is certainly not a game, but in this case yes, video games can indeed help a person adapt to this position.

And the Taliban are just upset because they're losing their game.

Pipotchi:I imagined they'd be more annoyed by the fact that one of the British Royal family is flying overhead, bombing the shit out of their women hating backward asses, before swooping off to play FIFA and party with sluts in Vegas. The man's an epitome of everything they hate.

Amen that. It's so delicious when the Taliban, of all people, are offended.

Pipotchi:I imagined they'd be more annoyed by the fact that one of the British Royal family is flying overhead, bombing the shit out of their women hating backward asses, before swooping off to play FIFA and party with sluts in Vegas. The man's an epitome of everything they hate.

Yup, he's basically the real Duke Nukem... with the difference that one day he'll be an actual Duke.

By gad, this story makes me proud to be British.

Holy shit, who got this patriotism all over me? Its warm and fuzzy... and smells a little like battered cod.

Same here. i didn't feel patriotism during the Queen ceremony...or during the olympics...but this sent a tear down my eye

For you the day Prince Harry shot a missile at your cave was the most important day of your life....for Harry it was Battlefield/COD

They are basically holding him to a higher moral standard, they have then jumped to their own implications of his statement and defy you to not do the same. These implications being that he compares the making of war to the playing of a video game. Essentially for fun, they say, as a prince he should know better.

No, he's playing the game - a football game - for fun, and comparing the manual dexterity to controlling his helicopter... not that killing in war is fun. It's how you can compare a small part of two things, but that doesn't mean they are the same in every other way. This is not different than if he'd played cricket and made the obvious connection with throwing a cricket ball and throwing a grenade.

I thought the Taliban loved killing people. I saw the camcorder footage they gleefully take of executions, they're grinning from ear to ear as they get ready to stone a young woman to death for some trivial offence. Cool and sombre they most definitely are not.

And I don't think the Taliban realise how we view the royal family.

They're really C-list celebrities, and those are the ones directly in line to the throne.

They're not as low as Celebrity Big Brother, not THAT obscure, but people are more interested in movie stars and TV personalities. I mean the Taliban go on enough about how deserving of annihilation we are for caring so much about celebrities...

We certainly don't respect the Royal Family or hold them to any higher standards than pretty much anyone else. Any respect the Queen has she has earned and is (and has) been taken away when she doesn't dance to the media's tune. They are little more than a family of rich land owners who inherit a lot of honorific duties, the only ones that get any expenditure are the ones which bring in tourist revenue. Like the guards of Buckingham Palace where the Royal family haven't lived for decades, but tourists flock there to "see where the Queen of England lives". She lives in Winsor. And Scotland, and any place other than Buckingham Palace.

Yeah, Royal Family is mainly independently rich, Prince Charles has a thriving organic foods brand. And I'm telling you, the margins on organic food, makes Columbian drug dealers look like small fry.

I supposed I shouldn't be surprised Taliban spokesman is out of touch... but why even try to get in touch? Camcorders filming bronze-age executions.

Next up: Zombie Hitler condemns videogames, stating they are "a bad influence on todays youth". Attila the Hun was unavailable for comment.

As has been mentioned already, the Taliban are so out of touch with reality that they don't appear to notice they are one of the leading causes of quite alot of modern warfare. Imaginary friends will do that to a person.

The worst part of this is less the evil psychopaths we know to be evil psychopaths (to whom I hope only the longest and most painful of ends) but the two at the end, he said playing games helps his thumbs and I'm guessing his accuracy with them you cretins, he is not saying that fling an Apache mid war was just like playing games (Especially since the game me mentioned was FIFA, which is not known for its Apache section) but no everyone jump on the bandwagon.

2xDouble:Excuse me... this explains why we are losing? Mr Spokesman, I think you need to take another look at the scoreboard. It clearly shows our boot firmly entrenched inside your anus, so much so that a great effort or some sort of gastrointestinal reversal would be required to remove it. To be honest, I didn't think such an image was possible numerically, yet there it is.

Agreed, when I saw that I immidiately thought "listen, looking at a list of your leaders, most are dead and all that aren't are in hiding. You have been essentially kicked out of a country you once claimed to rule, your forces are hiding in caves and among civilians hoping that a NATO country doesn't find out where you are and begin raining hell-fire out of the sky until you, and everyone you knew are dead. You have lost. We have had times when more soldiers died of suicide than in attacks. Now if you would stop random IEDs and attacks on civilians and give up we could all go home, but for now just keep cowering in fear telling yourselves that you are somehow winning."

Me55enger:Amusing how the Taliban and the Stop the War Coalition effectively say the same thing but with localised dialogue. Just an observation.

I do think that the Stop the War Coalition had more trouble with Harry's boasts of having killed taliban warriors, pointing out that more often than not innocent bystanders do get killed from western air-attacks. And wars being messy and unclear at times, Harry really had no real way of actually knowing the tiny figures down below he took out were Taliban fighters or regular Afghani civvies in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That and hoping in the gunners seat was "a joy to him". Possibly just a little too bloodthirsty or disconnected from consequences for comfort really. I can understand that after seeing a US aircrew murder a Reuters Photographer.

Pipotchi:I imagined they'd be more annoyed by the fact that one of the British Royal family is flying overhead, bombing the shit out of their women hating backward asses, before swooping off to play FIFA and party with sluts in Vegas. The man's an epitome of everything they hate.

Yup, he's basically the real Duke Nukem... with the difference that one day he'll be an actual Duke.

By gad, this story makes me proud to be British.

Holy shit, who got this patriotism all over me? Its warm and fuzzy... and smells a little like battered cod.

first time I've felt it too...It's odd, mine smells like earl grey.Probably because it's the most British thing I can think of at the moment being from the commonwealth of Australia.

QFT... The Taliban are religious fanatics, which is why I started by describing Harry the way they see him, as 'a divine being' that is looked up to and 'loved' somewhat unconditionally by his people. He is comparable to a holy man, in that respect, people will follow his teachings (when compared with the average person his power to influence is greatly magnified by... Chance?).

If Prince Harry came and posted right here, if you could be sure it was authentic while you might not take interest in anything he said, I think we can be agreed everyone (eventually, on the whole site, probably) would turn around and take notice right?

Flutterbrave:A person who is hugely disconnected from everyday life said something which a very small number of people found insensitive?

Shock and horror.

So wait, he says something off the cuff as a twenty-something who's been on more combat missions than 99% of the population? Lord forbid he word something wrong!God knows he's lived a normal east London life in a home where...oh wait, he's been tabloid fodder since conception, because that makes a mafucker normal.

When it breaks down to it, you have a person who likens games to killing BAD GUYS (seriously, if you think the Talibs are the good guys, wtf) to games maybe as a measure of distancing himself from taking another human life. Really, guys. It's a statement, taken out of context, by a young man who should by any rights be shaking and hugging himself in a padded room.

Like every other piece of celebrity news, it's out of context or inconsequential. Let's move on and deal with real things.